TN forest dept uses AI to track elephant movements

The Tamil Nadu Forest Department's Artificial Intelligence (AI) based surveillance mechanism, established on a pilot project basis, started recording elephant movements on railway track in Madhukkarai in Coimbatore, a senior government official said on Wednesday.

The surveillance system has 12 towers fitted with both thermal and normal cameras, installed at strategic locations along the railway track for early detection of animal movement, Additional Chief Secretary, Environment Climate Change & Forests, Supriya Sahu, said.

''The sensed data is automatically transferred to the control room set up on the site that processes the data collected from the field on real-time basis and alerts loco pilots through calls and SMS,'' she said in a post on the social media platform ''X''.

This area has seen several tragic elephant deaths due to collisions with trains. ''We are trying our best to prevent these collisions through the use of modern technology, which can be a big boon in preventing elephant deaths in such areas,'' Sahu said posting a video.